Energy Department Is Blaming Every Major Storm on Climate Change

Did global warming cause Hurricane Sandy? That's still a matter of dispute, but the Energy Department is already citing the storm as a prime example of climate change's toll on the energy sector.

A report released this morning shows energy failures nationwide that the department blames on climate change, conveniently mapped out to emphasize where they hit home. The map includes outages suffered by power plants and petroleum producers in the Northeast caused by the megastorm that hit the region in October 2012. Also on the list: the derecho that hit a vast swath of the country—including Washington—in June of last year.

The report also uses less recent hurricanes to show climate change's damage, including Isaac, Katrina, Rita, and 2004's Jeanne.